Cooperation on arms purchases needed, says study

If the EU wants to seriously flex its own defence muscles, member states need to stop wasting money on inefficient national armaments programmes and invest in the technologies of tomorrow, according to a report by the Centre for European Reform.

European Voice

12/18/02, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 8:34 AM CET

“The European defence industry is really in a bit of a crisis,” said the study’s author, Daniel Keohane, a defence expert at the London-based think-tank. “If we fall even further behind the US, we’re going to be reduced to the role of sub-contractors.”

The obvious solution for Keohane: “The EU should become directly involved in armaments cooperation, as part of a broader defence policy.”

Flat defence budgets and rising equipment costs have led to more trans-national mergers of defence companies. But the record of multinational projects is poor: some have actually increased costs and many products are delivered years after their original target date.

In 2001, the EU spent €10 billion on defence and the US spent $40bn (nearly €39bn). “And that figure is due to increase, whereas the European one is not,” Keohane said.

Moreover, much of the EU’s defence spending is duplicated. Keohane recommends that the EU open up the European defence market “so that governments can buy the best equipment at the best price”.

He also suggests that the EU develop a common armaments policy and establish common management guidelines for multinational projects.

Earlier this month, French Defence Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie called for the creation of a pan-European arms agency. “This could bea major step in the right direction,” Keohane said.

But if the EU fails to focus on the technologies of tomorrow, such as advanced communications networks and intelligence surveillance systems, then it will just keep on losing out to the US, he warned.